The present disclosure relates to optical systems, and more particularly, to optical systems for use in connection with flood and area lights.
Emergency first responders require adequate ground lighting to perform essential tasks such as assessing a patient's injuries and performing appropriate life-saving medical care. Consequently, floodlights having sufficient intensity to light up the area surrounding the vehicle are widely utilized on emergency vehicles. While there is no widely-accepted standard for floodlighting on emergency vehicles, standards such as the Federal KKK Standard for ambulance lighting provide guidance as to the photometric intensity and light emission pattern required for triage.
When utilized in conjunction with motor vehicles, high intensity lights are traditionally mounted to the top front corners of the cab (so called “brow lights”), or mounted in an enclosure secured to a vertical side or rear face of the vehicle body. High intensity light sources such as halogen, metal halide, mercury vapor, sodium vapor, and arc lamps have been traditionally utilized to satisfy the photometric intensity requirements for floodlighting. While they emit light of sufficient intensity for the purposes of triage, prior art vehicle-mounted floodlights can be bulky, require frequent maintenance and require large amounts of electrical power. Additionally, cutting openings in vehicle body panels may be necessary to accommodate the depth of prior art floodlights.
Light emitting diode (LED) light sources are commercially available that emit light having sufficient intensity to make them a viable light source in floodlights. Although the total optical energy emitted by a single LED continues to improve, multiple LED lamps are utilized to emit the intensity required for floodlight and area light applications. Optical systems are typically utilized to combine the light output of multiple LED lamps to attain a desired intensity and light emission pattern.
Traditional optical assemblies are symmetrical and may form a beam centered on the optical axes of the LED lamps. Prior art optical systems may utilize a concave metalized reflector and a centrally-positioned optical lens. While the light source, reflector and optical lens are precisely designed in prior art LED floodlights, interruptions or holes in the metalized reflectors are necessary to correctly position the optical lens directly in front of the light source. The interruptions, which receive screws or standoffs, compromise the pattern and intensity of the light emitted.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a compact and low profile optical assembly that emits required intensities and patterns of light.